+ 2nd Sunday of Advent – December 8th, 2024 +
Series C: Malachi 3:1-7; Philippians 1:2-11; Luke 3:1-14
Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church
Milton, WA
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
One way or another, this time of the year is full of messages. Text messages flying around between families and friends. Messages that your Amazon package is on its way. Messages on the radio and streaming on your TV and devices. Messages sent out to loved ones in the form of a letter or family photo or a simple Christmas greeting. Whether you go big or keep it simple, Advent is a season full of messages.
When we open up God’s word this Advent season we find the same thing, only far better of course – that Advent is a season full of messages in God’s house as well. Only you won’t find God using text messages, TikTok videos, emojis, tweets, or spam messages. God’s preferred messengers happen to be people. Because where there’s a message there’s a messenger. And a messenger must have a message to deliver.
Today’s Scripture readings are a great reminder that God always has a message to deliver and he sends his messengers to declare, deliver, proclaim, and announce his message of good news, deliverance, rescue, and redemption.
As you open Scripture, you realize that no matter what page you turn to, you are opening the message God is sending you.
Messengers like the evangelists who wrote the Gospels that tell us the story of Jesus’ life and ministry and rescue from sin and death. Apostles – like Paul – whom God sent with the message of the Gospel out on mission to deliver that message of God’s justifying, righteous love to all nations. so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
But of course, Paul would be the first to admit that he was standing on the shoulders of those messengers God had called before him.
Long before God sent Paul, he sent the prophets – like Malachi – to proclaim his Advent message centuries before his arrival and birth in Bethlehem. And centuries before he sends another wilderness messenger, John the Baptist. “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”
Even though it was a few more centuries (four hundred years or so, to be exact), between Malachi and John the Baptist, God still made good on his promise. He sent his messenger. What Malachi foretold, John the baptizer fulfilled. What God promised by the prophets, came to happen in the last prophet of the Old Testament and the first witness of the dawn of the New Testament. The message of Christ’s advent is delivered and proclaimed by John the wilderness preacher.
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
All these names and places may sounds strange to us. But this is Luke’s way of telling us this messenger and his message are the real deal. This isn’t some fake news report. This message and the messenger are real. Historical. Reliable. Trustworthy. And yet, it’s always good to follow the simple rule of trust, but verify. What’s this messenger saying? What’s the content of John’s preaching?
This, by the way is a good way to listen to Christian sermons no matter where you hear them. Who is the preacher talking about? More about himself or Jesus? Is Jesus mentioned? And if so, how often? Is he the main part of the sermon or is he sitting on the sidelines sipping some fine Cana wine? And when Jesus shows up in the sermon, what’s he doing? Is he running the verbs? Is he the one doing the work of showing sin, saving, forgiving, rescuing, loving, and working in you to give you his holiness, or is it all up to you?
So, how does John our Advent preacher fair? It turns out he fairs well because he doesn’t spend any time at all talking about himself – so much so, that the crowds get a little flummoxed by John. But that’s ok by John. He’s not out in the wilderness to build an empire or appear on Judea’s morning talk shows and fly a jet up and down the Jordan River collecting money for his ministry. No, John’s a simple man. simple clothing. Simple diet. And a clear message. Repentance and forgiveness of sins.
That’s it. No gimmicks. No lights and fog machines. No frills. John shows up in the wilderness to show us our sin and show us our Savior. John preaches not himself, but the coming Christ who came into the world to save sinners. John warns sinners to flee from the wrath to come, but also points sinners to Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And where does John get his preaching material? He reaches back and takes a page out of the Old Testament playbook; he does a little remix of Isaiah’s messages from of old.
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,[a]
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
There are a lot of messages we hear this time of the year. Messages to buy, consume, have it all – not that it’s bad to give and receive gifts. It’s not. But if that’s all it is, we haven’t heard John’s message. Our world is full of messages and messengers, but some of the most constant come from between our ears, and in our sinful hearts. Messages of guilt and shame of what we’ve done or left undone. Reminders of past and present sins. Whispers of our worries and fears and failures. A constant dialogue of doubt, despair, and darkness.
This is why Jesus sent John. To be our messenger. To proclaim a simple, yet saving message. A message of comfort in Jesus’ dying and rising for you. A message of hope in the fulfillment of God’s promises. A message of pardon for all our offenses. A message of light and life in Jesus that casts out the darkness. A message that all our sin has been swallowed up by the Savior. A message that our hearts are turned back to God by his redeeming, gracious love. A message that is outside of us, and sure and certain, so that no matter what we hear from the devil, the world, or our sinful flesh, you can count on this: this message of good news and deliverance in Jesus is for you. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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